Science Stories

No whining, just perform. For many athletes, that's a lesson they learn early on at their sports club. Standards like that travel with them, from youth teams to the Olympic podium. But they also have a downside: an increased risk of physical, psychological and sexual misconduct. The Winter Games show a glorious result. But how safe is the road to get there?

With the Olympic Games approaching, wearables are once again in the spotlight. Elite athletes measure everything: heart rate, sleep, recovery and stress. In some cases, this goes so far that sports federations step in, as recently happened with tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, who was no longer allowed to wear a wearable during the Australian Open. One thing is clear: data has become inseparable from elite sport. But what does all this mean for the average athlete, or for the average person in the Netherlands?

During the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, we hope that TeamNL will win a record number of speed‑skating medals. Go Joy, Jutta, Kjeld, Joep, et al.! Yet, ironically, our Dutch champions can rarely train on natural ice in the Netherlands. Quite simply because it is too warm. Professor Mark van der Meijde is determined to keep the tradition of natural ice skating alive in the Netherlands, and he may have found a potential solution. In a rather surprising place: on bridges and flyovers. These can become icy even when temperatures are still just above freezing. How is that possible? And can we use the same effect to get skaters onto the ice sooner?

Do you know what polymer chemistry and wine have in common? The Sustainable Polymer Chemistry Group at the University of Twente harvested grapes from our own small vineyard on campus, which yielded 25 litres of white wine. While the wine is purely for the seasonal festivities, the grape leaves are being used to study biodegradable nano- and microcarriers that leave no microplastics behind.

You raise an eyebrow and a cartoon crown pops onto your head. You hold up to fingers, and suddenly: flames! Snapchat filters might feel like magic, but they’re not. Behind every funny mask and smooth skin effect is a computer that has learned to ‘see’. At the University of Twente, student learn to do this themselves. Creative engineering!